Special counsel Robert Mueller is asking a judge to grant immunity from prosecution for five potential witnesses whose testimony Mueller wants to compel at the upcoming federal criminal trial of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, according to a court filing Tuesday.

If the five unidentified people are not granted immunity — and compelled to testify against Manafort — they would either refuse to take the witness stand or refuse to answer questions by citing their Fifth Amendment right against being forced to incriminate themselves, according to Mueller’s filing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mueller has also asked Judge T.S. Ellis to seal from public view the court motions detailing the witnesses’ identities.

“The five individuals identified in the motions at issue are third parties who have not been charged in this matter, and who have not been identified publicly with the case,” Mueller’s team argued in a filing asking for that sealing order.

“Disclosing the motions would reveal those individuals’ involvement in the investigation and the trial, thereby creating the risk of their undue harassment.”

Prosecutors also said that the witnesses could suffer “reputational harm” if their claim of Fifth Amendment protection and grant of immunity were to be revealed publicly.

The idea that these folks might suffer “reputational harm” sounds like they are either politicians or folks with public reputations to protect.

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

I have a couple of guesses of my own, but I will respect Mueller’s desire to protect their identities by keeping them to myself.

I am waiting with bated breath for this trial to start in September.

I have to admit that I really thought Manafort would flip and avoid going to trial, but he has proven to be a loyal mafia soldier so let the games begin!

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10 Comments

…That’s not all. Mueller and his prosecutors are also asking that filings containing information about these witnesses be sealed. Mueller said that sealing of these documents is necessary to protect the identities of “uncharged third parties,” to prevent “undue harassment,” and to prevent “reputational harm.”

Manafort’s alleged attempted witness tampering, which is the reason why Manafort will remain jailed until trial, is another reason why you can expect these witnesses to remain anonymous.

…“Everybody thinks that President Trump is some kind of drag on the Republican Party, [when] in this case, he’s just the essential ingredient,” said Holmes, who’s helped engineer his party’s Senate strategy for the past 16 years as a chief aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

“What the president is doing by continuing to discuss the investigation [into allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia] and the quote-unquote ‘witch hunt,’ particularly on prime time Fox [News], is doing more to mobilize base voters than any legislative issue we’ve seen,” added Holmes.

…Republicans are planning on using Trump’s attacks on the American intelligence community as a motivating factor get Republicans to turn on their own country and come out and vote in November. The hope that Republicans will be excited by the attacks on Mueller and flood the polls are ignoring some very basic fundamentals of this election. Midterm election turnout is lower than presidential election turnout. Trump’s base is about 32%-38% of the electorate. With Democratic enthusiasm being motivated by the Mueller investigation and other issues, the Trump base is outnumbered.

Well, i think that McConnell, who orchestrated eight years of seditious behavior culminating in the refusal to hold hearings for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, has been a knowing and willing party to the Trump/GOP collusion with Russia. It was he, after all, who refused to take up the matter of Russian hacking during the 2016 campaign.

Anonymous
July 18, 2018 at 10:21 am

“What happened yesterday is extremely dangerous, it’s un-American, it’s unpatriotic,” she said. “Our president acted like a pathetic puppy who was completely neutered around a former KGB agent, [a] murderous dictator who has caused some of the worst atrocities.”